A group of vets, known as the Animal Avengers , are saving injured animals using 3D printed prosthetics to replace damaged or missing limbs.

The ingenious team of six specialists - four vets, a dental surgeon and a 3D designer - use pioneering 3D technology to prolong the lives of seriously wounded pets and exotic wild animals.

Based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the team have reconstructed artificial beaks for three toucans, a parrot, and a goose; designed the first ever titanium prosthetic pecker for a Macaw and built a brand new plastic-based replacement hull for a traumatised tortoise.

Designer Cicero Moraes, said: “Freddy was the first tortoise in the world to receive a fully rebuilt hull and the first creature that we, as a newly formed group of animal rescuers, decided to help.”

The tortoise was found close to death by veterinarian surgeon Dr Rodrigo Rabello, nicked name Thor - because he is tall and blonde, after a bush fire completely destroyed its protective covering.

Thor

Cicero who goes by the superhero moniker, ‘the Hulk’ because of his gym-fit physique, explained: “To design the hull I took a series of pictures from all angles of Freddy as well as photos of a healthy tortoise to compare.

“Then I reconstructed a 3D computer imaging model of the complete shell using the tortoise’s exact measurements.”

Freddy the tortoise was given a 3D printed shell (Image: Caters)

The 3D design was sent to dental surgeon Dr Paulo Miamoto, whose fictional character is ‘Vision’ as his colleagues jokingly liken him to a robot due to his high energy levels.

Paulo used a desk-top 3D printer to build an authentic four-piece shell that slotted together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Following a successful operation by veterinary surgeon Roberto Fecchio, Freddy returned to full mobility sporting a beautifully hand-painted hull that blends into its natural habitat.

Iron Man (Image: Rex)

Roberto Fecchio, who answers to his Animal Avengers alias of ‘Iron Man’ due to his resemblance to Tony Stark, said: “We first came together as friends because of our common love of science and our love for animals.

“We soon realised we could do some extraordinary work using cutting-edge technology to push back the boundaries of life-saving care for mutilated animals by giving them customised prostheses.”

The Avengers team (Image: Caters)

Fictional: Iron Man, Captain America and The Hulk make up the comic book vigilante team (Image: Marvel Studios)

Robert shares a practice with medical vet Dr Sergio Camargo, dubbed ‘Captain America’ because he is the oldest in the Animal Avengers team.

Since creating the milestone replacement hull in July 2015, the brainy bunch, who live in different locations dotted across Brazil, have been honing their technical powers.

Last July they worked on the first Toucan to receive a 3D prosthetic top nozzle after its upper beak had been broken in an accident.

Freddy's shell was badly destroyed in a fire (Image: Caters)

Roberto said: “We used a technique known as photogrammetry which allows us to plan the prosthesis using exact measurements and calculations of the size of the replacement.

“By the time we came to doing our second Toucan called Bicolino, a month later, which was born with a malformed upper beak, we had learned so much we were able to mould and construct an even better prosthesis that fitted perfectly.”

Whereas Toucan’s use their beaks mainly for feeding, the research scientists were concerned about repairing a parrot’s pecker.

Dr Matheus Rabello, otherwise known as ‘Hawkeye’, because of his passion for technical devices, said: “We were worried the renewable plastic used to make the prosthetics would not withstand the demands of a parrot’s beak, which is used to crack nuts and to climb.

However, the prosthesis proved to be a super-strong substitute.

Another touchstone triumph with the first prosthetic beak built for a goose. The poor gander named Vitoria, had lost most of its top and bottom choppers and would have died without urgent corrective surgery.

They also produced the world’s first titanium beak for Gigi, an abandoned Macaw.